The war on drugs has failed

Last month a number of right-wing Latin American leaders called for a new approach to the dealing with the illicit drug industry that wracks their continent. In turn, here in Australia, a number of normally neo-liberal leaders such as Foreign Minister Bob Carr declared the 30-year old ‘War on Drugs’ to be a failure and called for a new direction in drug policy.

The United Nations claims the global trade in drugs generated US$321.6 billion in 2003, slightly less than 1% of total global commerce. This illegal industry is run by brutal and exploitative cartels that pay poppy and coca growers in places like Afghanistan and Colombia a pittance, then manufacture the finished product and use an army of smugglers to get it to the Western markets where it is sold by another army of suppliers.

By Stephen Jolly, Socialist Party

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SP Newsletter No.399

In April 350 workers were targeted by Toyota to be made redundant at their car plant in Altona, Victoria. The company claimed to have assessed their workforce and sacked those who they rated poorly in relation to company values, how they dressed, punctuality and safety.

The truth is that the targets included union delegates, health and safety representatives, injured workers and those who spoke English as their second language. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) said more than 50% of their delegates had been dismissed.

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By Mick Suter, Socialist Party Perth

In recent weeks police in Perth have repeatedly attacked the Nyoongar Tent Embassy on Matagarup (Heirisson Island). Large numbers of officers have been used along with horses and dogs. Four people have been arrested on trumped up charges in an attempt to try and weaken the protest.

The Barnett Government has ordered the police to remove the protesters. At the moment the Tent Embassy is the most vocal and visible form of opposition to the government’s attempt to take land from the Nyoongar people in South Western Australia.

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SP Newsletter No.398

Last month Socialist Party members helped launch the new Fightback! campaign. This campaign was set up to tackle the constant cost of living increases. Not only does Fightback! point out where the problems in society lie, but it outlines a way to genuinely address the issues we face.

As the global economic crisis gets worse internationally, many people in Australia are keeping their fingers crossed that things won’t get as bad here.

But young people’s prospects are already bleaker today than they were just 5 years ago before the crisis hit. All the indicators suggest things are only going downhill!

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SP Newsletter No.397

Languishing at around 30% support in opinion polls, the ALP continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. Despite repeated attempts to spin their way out of trouble, most ordinary people see Labor’s politics for what they are - helping the rich to get richer while the bulk of the population struggles to make ends meet.

Since the beginning of the year downward trends in the world economy have intensified. The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has gotten worse and China’s consumption, output and growth have all fallen. All of this is effecting the situation in Australia, with China’s problems widely predicted to worsen as time wears on.

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SP Newsletter No.396

Bob Brown, the leader of the Australian Greens, announced that he was resigning from the leadership of the party earlier this month. He will also resign from the Senate. Brown has been a senator for 16 years and leader of the party since it was formed in 1992.

Christine Milne has been elected as the new leader of the Greens and Adam Bandt has been elected deputy leader.

Since the party’s inception the mild mannered Brown has been the face of the Greens and its main national spokesperson. Under Brown’s leadership the Greens have grown to be the ‘third force’ in Australian politics winning 1.7 million votes in the last federal election.

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Reviewed by Anthony Main, Socialist Party

Allyson Hose from Socialist Alternative has written a new pamphlet called ‘The Baiada poultry workers’ strike - How class struggle unionism can win’. It is an attempt to give an overview of the Baiada strike which took place in the western suburbs of Melbourne in late 2011.

The introduction of the pamphlet claims that its goal is to highlight “important lessons that workers, rank and file unionists, socialists and activists need to learn from the Baiada workers’ victory in order to build back strong, combative unions that can challenge the priorities of Australian capitalism and win.”

Unfortunately this pamphlet falls well short of its stated aim. From the title you would hope that the work was a critique of the industrial strategy put in place by the leaders of the National Union of Workers (NUW). Instead it paints the union leaders as mere bystanders, which in the final analysis, covers over the conservative role that they played and continue to play in relation to this dispute.

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SP Newsletter No.395

Socialist Party members are involved in establishing a new campaign to fight against the increasing cost of living. The campaign, called ‘Fightback!‘, will kick off this month and aims to grow into a dynamic force that can win real changes.

While Australia has so far averted the worst of the economic crisis, there has already been an impact on people’s living conditions. Young people in particular have been hit hard. The future looks bleak unless people begin to fight back to change things for the better.

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The following perspectives document was discussed, amended and voted on at the recent Socialist Party National Conference held in Melbourne. This document builds upon past perspectives documents and should be read in conjunction with the documents which were agreed by the last meeting of the International Executive Committee (IEC) of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI).

While the economic crisis has not had the same dire impacts on Australia as it has in places like the US and Europe, it has begun to have an effect. Unemployment is set to rise further over the next six months, as is underemployment.

According to Newspoll 60% of voters rate unemployment as a very important issue, putting it ahead of national security concerns. The last time Newspoll surveyed attitudes towards unemployment was July 2008, when only 46% rated it as a very important issue.

With nearly 40% of the workforce employed on an insecure basis concern about secure working hours is at an all time high. This goes hand in hand with housing stress and a general worry about rising costs of living and the growing divide between rich and poor.

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SP Newsletter No.394

Last month Federal Minister for Youth, Peter Garrett, announced a government initiative to address ”negative body image” amongst young women.

Over the last number of years there has been growing awareness and concern about the impact the beauty and fashion industries have on the body expectations of women. The overwhelming response to this has been to demand more ‘healthy’, ‘positive’ and ‘real’ representations of women in the fashion world and beauty advertising.

This new initiative follows this trend by promoting a voluntary industry code and an awards competition for those who include “healthy body image” in their products and marketing. Those who decide to participate may receive a certificate. The assessment panel will be headed by the editor of Australian Women’s Weekly, a beauty and lifestyle magazine.

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